The second half of 2022 saw the red-hot U.S. housing market thrust into an abrupt—and sharp— slowdown. That’ll happen when mortgage rates spike from 3% to 6% just after U.S. home prices skyrocketed over 40% during the Pandemic Housing Boom.
Unlike existing home sellers who can just wait out the storm, U.S. homebuilders—who have a historic number of units in their backlog—have no choice but to sweeten the deal for new buyers in 2023. Their incentive of choice? Aggressive mortgage rate buydowns.
